


if you could

by flyingthesky



Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: Breathplay, Community: kink_bingo, Knives, M/M, Under-negotiated Kink, Unhealthy Relationships
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-07-14
Updated: 2011-07-14
Packaged: 2021-02-17 21:40:45
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,231
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21516880
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flyingthesky/pseuds/flyingthesky
Summary: There are four main hazards to working with Sherlock Holmes.
Relationships: Sherlock Holmes/John Watson
Kudos: 4





	if you could

There are four main hazards to working with Sherlock Holmes. 

The first hazard is that you may, quite frequently in fact, find yourself in precious situations of rather dubious legality and/or on the wrong side of the law. It isn't too bad to be so, because Lestrade will often let things pass so long as they are useful in solving a case and even if he's reluctant to let you off, there is always Mycroft. He is only to be used as a last resort, though, as Sherlock tends to be insufferable when Mycroft enters any situation.

The second hazard is that you will most certainly ingest substances that are, in fact, poisonous or inedible on a almost daily basis. No matter how many times you explain that the silver teapot is for things which may kill a bloke and the white teapot is for heating water to make tea, Sherlock will never learn. He has the dreadful tendency to grab whichever teapot is closest, and sometimes no amount of scrubbing will make you feel completely safe ingesting food or drink in the apartment.

The third hazard is that you almost constantly make enemies, some of whom actually want to kill you and some of whom actually just want to use you as a sick and twisted prop in their mindgames with Sherlock. You're not sure precisely what's going on between Moriarty and Sherlock, but you think that if they were less brilliant maybe it would be called courtship. Except for how Sherlock has said he doesn't. It's not. He's married to his work.

Which leads to the fourth hazard to working with Sherlock Holmes: you will, slowly but surely, fall in love with his mad self and it will never be reciprocated. You aren't quite sure that Sherlock has the capacity to love someone, although you attribute that less to the fact that Sherlock is highly oblivious when it comes to things such as romance or other basic human interaction and more to the fact that Sherlock doesn't understand that he's the most brilliant—no.

Sherlock certainly understands that he's the most brilliant person in London at the very least, although it's quite possible he's the most brilliant in the world. The problem is more that Sherlock doesn't understand how any human, especially you, could fail to live up to his impossible standards. No one can live up to Sherlock's standards, except perhaps Moriarty but there are other problems with that coupling.

Regardless, being around Sherlock has taught you that the impossible is never truly impossible and deducing things is, honestly, not so hard sometimes. So when Sherlock curls his fingers around his neck and says he needs to determine how long it would take for a person to pass out from their air supply being cut off, you try to stop him by listing the various health hazards with such a thing and—

You wake up some time later to Sherlock's face, too close and very blurry. He looks . . . You know the many looks of Sherlock Holmes, but this is not one that you've seen before. Were it on anyone else, you would call it concern.

_Are you okay?_

You blink Sherlock into better focus. _What?_

_Are you okay? You were out for an usually long amount of time._

You try to sit up. _How long?_

_It's irrelevant. Perhaps you should rest longer, you look a little ashen. I'll make tea._

Normally you would yell out a warning about which teapot is which, but you've given up that battle and it would take too much energy anyway. Instead you stay stretched out on the couch and wait for Sherlock to return. The ceiling isn't as interesting to you as it was to Sherlock, although you remember him saying _I've solved all the mysteries in the ceiling_ when you told him to contemplate it like everyone else. Sherlock is kneeling by the couch again, and he seems to be checking you over.

It wouldn't surprise you if Sherlock knew more about medicine and anatomy than the average doctor, but you don't try to make the joke. It would probably end up coming out wrong in your current state anyway, especially with the way that Sherlock is fitting is finger around your neck again, inspecting.

When the kettle starts howling, Sherlock disappears and returns to help you into a sitting position. You thank him for the tea and he watches you drink it. It tastes like tea, which is a good sign that you're not ingesting chemicals that will not be helping your situation any. Once Sherlock seems assured that you're not going to die, he seems to lose interest and go back to the Sherlock that you're more familiar with. You put the incident out of your mind and it doesn't cross your mind again until there's a thug with a knife to your neck, using you as a shield against Sherlock.

If asked, you would say that Sherlock didn't particularly care for your well-being and a few scrapes were nothing to him, but Sherlock is before you, hesitating and almost unsure. Sherlock is never unsure, though, so you tamp down the automatic reaction to swallow and trust that Sherlock knows what he's doing. Besides, swallowing would only press your Adam's apple closer to the blade and that's not really something you want happening if it can be helped at all. You're not scared of the blade itself because you handle surgical ones all the time, but you're frightened by the thought of it slicing your throat open. It's close to your external jugular vein, and if that's cut then you're toast within ten minutes, probably less. 

Your first reaction is to blurt this out, the same way you would if the blade were pressed to your neck by Sherlock, but you doubt the person holding the blade to your neck has any regard for your safety. He probably has less regard for it than Sherlock, which is saying something because Sherlock is the one who went and choked you for "science." At least Sherlock sort of apologized when he did that, you doubt that the man pressing the knife to your throat would feel the same.

It doesn't entirely surprise you when the blade clatters away and you duck away from the man holding you, rolling toward the blade. Your fingers curl around it and then you're turning it against it's owner. Sherlock is by you, and the image of Sherlock pressing the blade to your neck pops into your head and refuses to leave, which. 

The image distracts you, just a little, and Sherlock is taking out your attacker while you blink it away. Pocketing the blade as Sherlock walks back over to you, you don't think about it or anything else. You're not really expecting it when Sherlock fits his fingers around your neck again, but there really is no expecting Sherlock.

_Some days I want to destroy you,_ he tightens his fingers slightly, _I don't know why you stay._

Sherlock releases, and you breathe in again. There are reasons why you stay, but Sherlock isn't actually interested in any of them. Instead, you just smile.

_That's a damn lie. You know everything._

_That's a foolish claim,_ Sherlock says, _it's impossible for anyone to know everything._

_Sure,_ you say, _but if you could—_

_Then I would._


End file.
